I grew up in NYC and moved to Moscow after university. Over the years, I watched how people in Russia got up from their seats in the metro for elderly women, pregnent women or women with young children. You see it all the time. Back in NYC for a visit, I rarely see people getting up for others. I just saw a husband/wife with a baby carriage get on the subway. No one offered them a seat. New Yorkers are generally very friendly if you need directions or other help on the streets. That courtesy though somehow vanishes down under. (On a separate note, they don’t eat or drink in the metro in Russia. It’s considered inappropiate. I wish New Yorkers would eat less in the subway — we might then have fewer rats on the tracks.